Sleeping on a Houseboat - the mother of all water beds

by Mary Tucker
(Norman, OK, USA)

When my husband and I purchased our 1969 43ft Nautaline houseboat about three years ago, we looked at it as a week-ender, that place to run to on Friday as quickly as possible and cling to on Sunday as long as possible.

We enjoyed the process of making it our home on the water. My husband took care of all the simple things, like the two motors, the generator, the bilge pumps and all other mechanical parts, while I bravely took on the arduous task of redecorating the interior. This took some time, what with all the shopping for fabrics for the new upholstery and window coverings, not to mention the new carpet.

So many places to shop, so little time. I even had a custom screen made to cover the front deck that keeps the little biting bugs out so that we can swill our beer in peace, for goodness sakes!

We purchased the boat with an attractive, if not comfortable, futon on which the previous owners slept. We tried it out for a while and it wasn't bad, except that the sleeping quarters were in plain sight where, clearly, a living area should be.

I had ventured once, below deck to the berth. The previous owners had used it as storage for goodness knows what. I lugged out all of the items they had stowed and left aboard as part of the purchase, lucky us. There were life jackets and noodles and blankets and monogrammed pj's (his) and water toys and junk. To their credit, they did leave a case of Lost Lake in the fridge.

Once I was finished I saw two larger than twin size beds below with a cross cushion and a closet. The wheels in my mind began to turn as I climbed out to get my measuring tape. Much to my surprise, the measurements nearly equaled those of a king-sized bed. All I had to do was have an insert cushion made and a mattress. This was done for about a hundred bucks.

Then I purchased high end bedding in layers, first the mattress pad, then the feather bed, then another mattress pad, then high tread count Egyptian cotton sheets. I added the mandatory throw pillows and I fell in love with my swanky bed.

The first night we slept in the bed, the boat gently rocked us to sleep. The next morning, I told my husband that we have the Mother of all water beds. We both laughed.

Today, we live aboard our 40 year old houseboat full time on a lake in Oklahoma and we love it, well, except in December when the temperature got down to around 17 F.

But, that's another story of living on a houseboat.


Regards, Mary, Norman OK.

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Reply - Answer
Well Mary, thanks for sharing that funny, and realistic houseboat story on how important a good bed is. My wife would really enjoy chatting with you about the challenges of interior decorating :)

I am sure that your story will also hit home with many of our female readers since the interior decorating and comfort are of primary importance especially when you want to turn your houseboat into a cozy home...



Lastly, hopefully some of our readers will share and post comments about their houseboat decorating and bedding experiences. Feel free to use the "Click here to post comments." link found near the bottom of this page.


Thanks again for sharing, IAN from all-about-houseboats

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